My Girl
by tiltingaxis
Summary: At three months old, Lily's learning all the ways to break the rules they've set for her. Finn, Rachel and Lily. A series of drabbles.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: These are the drabbles I've previously posted on Tumblr, that exclusively features Finn and Lily. Also Rachel =P  
**

* * *

He shuffles slowly towards the nursery, trying to make as little noise as possible. It's three in the morning and he had been startled awake almost ten minutes ago. Once he realized he was home, and _wasn't_ being chased by Godzilla, he had realized that Rachel wasn't next to him. The baby monitor was also oddly quiet.

He pushes the door open with a soft creak, and sure enough, there's Rachel slumped on the rocking chair, fast asleep. She looks exhausted, and as he comes closer, he notices the slight trail of drool. He grins. She'll never admit to it come morning. He shuffles closer, contemplating on whether to wake her or to just carry her back to their room, when he hears a noise coming from the cot.

He turns curiously towards it and grins as he looks down. Large brown eyes are looking up at him as Lily grabs her foot. She looks at him solemnly as he leans down, tufts of her newly sprouting brown hair all over the place.

"Hey there Lily," he whispers as his fingers curl around the wooden frame. "Watcha doin' up at this hour little lady?"

She still looks at him solemnly, and he chuckles when she pulls one sock-clad foot up into her mouth. He feels that warmth feeling spreading in his heart again, the one he gets every time she does something amazing (which is _all_ the time. Just her existence amazes him.). His hands itch to pick her up, but Rachel had warned him about not letting her get used to it.

_"We need to teach her to be independent Finn. She can't think that we're always going to pick her up if she makes a scene."_

Seeing his baby girl cry her little heart out kinda killed him a little, but he got his wife's point.

Still.

"It's all mummy's fault," he whispers to his daughter, as she eyes him. At three months old, Lily's learning all the ways to break the rules they've set for her. Most of them involves her wide toothless smile, and her small tiny arms waving up towards him. He chuckles softly, taking a discreet glance at Rachel, who is still out like a light, before turning back towards Lily.

"What the heck," he murmurs softly, reaching forward to place his hands just under her armpits, picking her up. He could have sworn the smile on her face looks almost like Rachel when she gets her way. "Just for a second," he warns her, holding her close with one arm, while the other brushes over her nose with his pinkie finger.

Lily grabs it in her tiny hand as she garbles in her baby speak, her small fingers curling around it tightly. He stares at it, feeling amazed once again at how such a tiny little thing could fill his heart with this much joy. She tugs his finger, her grip firm. She's a strong one, his little Lilyput.

And she's going to take his world by storm, he just knows it.

Just like her mother.


	2. Chapter 2

"Abicle."

"Bicycle," he corrects absentmindedly as he checks his watch. Lily sits on his lap, her Big Book of Everything spread open on the dinner table as she holds her head up high to peer at it, her tiny finger pointing to the picture of a red bicycle.

"Abicle," she repeats obediently.

"Rachel!" he calls out loudly, impatient. He smiles at Lily who looks up at him curiously, patting her head as he calls for his wife again. "Babe, Kurt's coming in ten minutes."

"I'm almost ready!" he hears her yell from the bedroom and rolls his eyes.

"You know what that means," he tells his daughter conspiratorially. "It means we're gonna be late."

Lily nods her head solemnly and turns back to more crucial matters as she points to an aeroplane.

"Aeroplane," he tells her.

"Opopin," she repeats. He chuckles leaning down to press a kiss on the top of her head.

"Right on the money there, Lil." She turns to send him a wide, toothless smile, her dimples in full effect.

"Daddy money," she says, pointing to the pocket of his pants. "Toys."

"You're a smart little two year old aren't you?" he laughs as she turns back to her book. "Hey look Lily," he says, pointing to a banana. "Can you say banana? You like bananas, don't you?"

"'Nana," she answers, nodding as her small hand rests on top of his large one.

"And this says Motorcycle. You're never going to get on to one of those things, just so you know-"

"How do I look?"

He looks up from the book to find Rachel standing two feet away from him, one hand on her hip as she strikes a pose. She smiles at him suggestively as his eyes start from the points of her open-toed heels up to the little red dress hugging her curves to her soft, brown hair framing her face in soft curls. He lets out a low whistle as he sets Lily down, standing up and walking towards her.

"Planning on breaking some hearts there Mrs Hudson?" he smirks. She beams at him, turning once, the slight flare of her skirt twirling around her.

"Mommy pretty," Lily says besides him, looking up at Rachel in awe. "Like Punzy."

"What?" he asks in confusion.

"Rapunzel," Rachel answers in amusement as she kneels down to give their daughter a hug. "Lily's trying to say that I look like a princess, aren't you baby girl?"

"Pwincess," Lily repeats, her hands curled around Rachel's hair. "Punzy."

He grins at the delighted look on Rachel's face as she stands up. She turns to look at him expectantly.

"Well?" she says, her hands on her hips as she stands close to him. "I didn't spend hours primping myself up for just a stare."

He laughs, curling his arm around her waist as he pulls her close.

"You look absolutely breathtaking tonight," he tells her in a husky voice, smirking at the blush spreading across her cheeks.

"Just like a princess?"

"Like a very hot, _very_ adult princess that I can't wait to be alone with."

"_Finn_," she admonishes. "Lily's right here."

"Rachel, she can't even pronounce apple properly. I doubt she can understand us right now," he continues in his low tone, amusement lacing his words. She rolls her eyes but smiles as she wraps her arms around his neck. He leans forwards to kiss her.

"You're going to smudge my lipstick," she murmurs when he's barely an inch away. "But what the heck."

He grins into their kiss, pulling away when he feels a tug on the fabric of his pants. They look down to find Lily looking up expectantly at him. She holds her hands up towards him.

"Lily kiss," she demands. He laughs, releasing his wife to scoop his daughter up in his arms. He plants a huge one right smack dab in the middle of her left cheek, blowing a raspberry as she squeals, laughing hysterically. There's a swift knock on the door and as Rachel goes to open it, he smiles at Lily whose arms are wrapped tightly around his neck.

"Uncle Kurt's here," he tells her. "You're gonna have so much fun with him Lilyput, and mommy and daddy are gonna be right here when you wake up tomorrow, okay Lil?" he tells her softly. She nods like she understands, leaning forwards to rest her head on his shoulder.

"Luffu daddy," she mumbles. He smiles, one part of him refusing to leave. But the rest of him, the bigger part, reminds him that this is going to be his and Rachel's first night out in almost a month, and no way in hell is he giving that up.

"I love you too Lily," he whispers back as Kurt steps into view, his arms stretched wide for Lily to jump into them.

It takes them almost ten minutes to get things settled, five being Lily refusing to relinquish her hold on his pants as she threw a small tantrum. But she's fine now as she snuggles into her uncle on the couch, incoherently singing along to the Little Mermaid. Rachel fusses, repeating the emergency numbers to Kurt for the hundredth time and reminding him of the name of their hotel for the fiftieth as Kurt waves her off, making a hand motion to shoo them out the door.

"You think she's going to be fine?" Rachel asks him nervously as they stand just outside the closed door. He smiles down at her, holding out his hand for her to loop hers through.

"She'll be fine. Now come on Mrs Hudson," he says as he kisses her cheek. "We have a date to get to."


	3. Chapter 3

She's got a vice grip on his hand, her small, tiny fingers squeezing his much larger ones. Her other hand is holding on to her mother's as they stand in front of the closed classroom, her large brown eyes even larger as she stares at the red door in alarm.

"Daddy," she whispers, her voice trembling. "I wanna go home."

His eye catches Rachel's, their gazes holding a silent conversation before she nods at him meaningfully. He looks down to find Lily staring up at them, terrified. He squats down, reaching her eye level as he gently pries his fingers away from his daughter's to gently brush his knuckle over her nose.

"But you're gonna have so much fun though Lil," he tells her boisterously. "You're gonna make so many new friends and play with all of them."

"I don't want new friends!" she tells him passionately. "I have you and mommy."

She turns away from him, after giving him a look like he'd just committed the highest form of treason. Nobody could ever deny that she's Rachel Berry's daughter with that look. She looks up towards Rachel, her expression pleading. "I just wanna go home and play dress-up with you."

"But Lilyput, don't you want to play pretend with your new friends?" Rachel asks, leaning down to pat her daughter on the head as she wraps both arms tightly around her mother's leg. "You could even find someone to play Prince Charming. We both know daddy's really bad at pretend."

"Hey," he protests. "I'm not that bad." Rachel and Lily both send him a withering look, before his stargazer's eyes start to water, her lips quivering.

"But what if they don't like me?" she asks in a small voice. He sees Rachel's eyes start to cloud over, and he knows she's thinking about that possibility, thinking about what it was like when _she_ was five. She told him that her first day at kindergarten had ended with her sitting next to the teacher because nobody wanted to play with the girl who sang _everything_.

"Of course they will kiddo," he says quickly when Rachel continues to hesitate. Lily looks at him doubtfully and he smiles, leaning forward to whisper conspiratorially. "Know how I know that? 'Cause you're the most _awesomest_ little girl in the whole wide world."

"I am?"

"Sure you are. You're Lily Ava Hudson, and you're not afraid of anything. And when school is over, and you're done having a total blast, mommy and I are going to be waiting right here, and we're going to for ice cream, because that's what brave little girls get."

Lily looks at him doubtfully before she looks up at Rachel who gives her an encouraging smile. He grins when he sees that Berry determination taking over her hesitant expression. She shuffles towards him, throwing her arms around his neck in a tight embrace.

"You promise?" she whispers.

"I promise," he whispers back. He looks up to see Rachel smiling warmly at them, but her eyes are still a little cloudy as she hangs back. He reaches out his hand towards her, his fingers twining automatically with his wife's as he shoots her a smile.

"I'm gonna be right here when you get out."

The red door opens, and a pleasant looking young woman peers down at them, smiling. He straightens up, picking Lily up with him because she wouldn't let go.

"Hi," Rachel starts. "I'm Rachel Hudson, this is **my husband Finn. And this-"**

"This must be Lily," the teacher cuts in. Lily looks at her in surprise.

"You know **my name?" she asks in wonder.**

"Of course I do. We've all been waiting for you. I'm Miss Clarkson," Lily's teacher says warmly, holding out her hand. She shakes it shyly. "Why don't you come on in Lily. You can sit next to Tyler. He's been waiting for a partner to paint with."

Lily turns to look at Rachel, and she nods at her encouragingly. she turns back towards Miss Clarkson.

"Okay," she says shyly as Finn puts her down. They watch as Lily walks slowly towards a small boy dressed in a red shirt. He sends her a toothless smile when she reaches him.

"She'll get used to it," Miss Clarkson assures them as Rachel's hand clasps his. She gives them a polite but firm goodbye, telling them that it's probably not the best idea to hover through the glass. Rachel sighs as the door closes.

"She'll be fine," he tells her, trying to convice himsef as he hovers through the glass anyway. He watches as that little boy hands their daughter a crayon. "Look, she has a friend already."

Rachel smiles, standing on her tiptoes to look. She leans against him as they turn away.

"Maybe they'll play pretend later," she says as they start walking towards the exit.

"Just as long as he's not Prince Charming," he says with a frown. "That's my role."

"Finn," Rachel says, rolling her eyes as he wraps an arm around her shoulders.

"What? At least for the next like, sixteen years or something."

"He's five Finn."

"You never know with these boys. He's five now, but in ten years he's gonna be fifteen, and then-"

"Finn."

"What?"

"Leave them alone. It's their first day."


	4. Chapter 4

Lily's going through her possessive, you're-my-daddy-_mine_ stage, and he doesn't know how much more of this he can stand. It was cute, for like a week, but now it's starting to get really old and his patience is wearing to about as thin as those crepe things Rachel likes so much. It doesn't really help that she gets all of her dramatics from her mother.

Case in point, on Monday, he took her to the park after school, and the glare she gave him after he helped a little girl who fell down and scrapped her knee (what kind of fucked up parents just leaves their five year old unattended at a playground seriously?) made it seem like he had just committed the worst form of treason. And then she promptly burst out in tears. She only calmed down after he promised her an ice cream cone. Yeah, it was a total bitch trying to explain to Rachel why he gave their daughter ice cream less than an hour before dinner.

Then on Tuesday, when he picked her up from piano class, he swears, no lie (just like he told Rachel), that Lily actually _glared_ at Miss Patterson when she walks out of the class and said hello to him. Her exact words were, "Leave my daddy alone".

"_Lily_," he had admonished as the teacher tried not to look startled. "What did mommy say about manners?"

She frowns up at him as she mutters an apology, but not before eyeing her teacher appraisingly as she practically pulled him towards the car.

"I don't know what's gotten into her," he says wearily, shaking his head as he finishes his story on how Lily wouldn't let him out of her sight for a second during Take-Your-Parent-to-School day earlier (Rachel was supposed to go, but Lily changed her mind at last minute and begged him to instead. He's pretty sure a famous Broadway star is infinitely more interesting than a boring old music teacher, but Lily's tantrums are Berry-worthy), even when he needed to use the toilet.

Rachel frowns as she turns off the light of their bedroom. He watches as she walks back towards him through the light emanating from the bedside lamp.

"Maybe it's just a phase."

"Rach, this 'phase' has been going on for almost two weeks now. Something's bothering her but she won't talk to me about it. She won't let me out her sight, but she won't talk to me either."

She tugs against his arm and he opens them as she burrows herself against him, while his hands rests automatically on the slight bulge of her belly.

"I'll talk to her tomorrow," she mumbles against his chest. "It's Mommy day tomorrow."

"Thank God," he mutters, grunting when her elbow hits his stomach.

"Finn. Are you saying that you're tired of our child?"

"Of course not! But seriously, you have no idea what it's like to have her seven year old shadow following your every move. I swear it's like people are actually afraid to talk to me these days."

"She is quiet adept at following you around."

"Only you would be proud of something like that," he tells her, almost affectionately. She rolls her eyes, ignoring his words as she inches herself closer, resting her arms on his chest to look down at him.

"Remember when I used to stalk you?" she asks, grinning. He chuckles.

"How could I forget? I couldn't sleep for days because I thought you were going to break in- ow! _Babe_. It's a joke. Chill.

"You think you're so hilarious," she mumbles, glaring at him. He bursts into laughter. She scowls, hitting his chest again.

"What's so funny?"

"Sorry, sorry. It's just. _God_ Rachel, she's _exactly_ like you. Every little thing about her, crazy dramatics, stalker tendencies and all."

"You better say you're happy about that," she warns. He grins, tugging a lock of her hair affectionately.

"Ecstatic," he promises. She smirks as she leans down to kiss him.

"She's not all me you know," she mumbles against his lips.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. She's got that Hudson smile."

"So she's perfect then?"

"Pretty much."

"What about this one?" she asks, smiling against him as she places his hand on her stomach. He smirks.

"I get dibs on this one."

Xxx

Lily's been quiet ever since she got back from Mommy day, and Rachel wouldn't say a word. She just keeps sending him these knowing looks. It's kind of driving him crazy.

Rachel's in the kitchen, cleaning up after dinner while he catches up on his football when she finally breaks.

"Daddy?"

He looks to his left to find Lily in her pajamas, looking hesitantly at him

"Hey Liliput. What are you doing up? I thought mommy put you to bed."

She shuffles towards him, climbing over his lap and snuggling herself closer.

"She did," Lily mumbles. "But I can't sleep."

"What's wrong Lil?"

She's quiet and he turns off the TV to pay attention to her.

"Daddy," she says quietly, looking up at him. "Do you love me?"

"Of course I do baby."

"Do you love mommy?"

He frowns, the dead serious look in her face alarming him just a little.

"Liliput, I love you and mommy more than anything the whole wide world," he declares. "Even more than cake."

He sees the slight smile pulling her lips upward, her dimples making their appearance.

"You promise?"

"I pinky promise," he says solemnly as he links their pinkies together. "What's wrong kiddo?"

"Sammie's parents got a break down."

"A what?"

"You know, like they don't live together anymore."

"You mean a divorce?"

"Yeah. And she said that it's 'cause her daddy and her mommy don't love each other anymore and now he doesn't love her anymore too because he loves his new girlfriend."

_Oh._

"Is that what you're worried about?" he asks quietly. "You're worried that I'm going to leave you?"

She nods quietly against his chest. He stifles a sigh, smiling a little exasperatedly down at her as he ruffles her head.

"Silly Lily," he says. "That's never going to happen. Wanna know why?"

"Why?"

" 'Cause you and mommy make me the happiest ever, and there's never going to be anybody that I love more than I love the two of you."

"And baby Chris too," she mumbles. He chuckles.

"Yes, and baby Chris too."

"You promise?"

"I promise"

"Forever and ever?"

"Times infinity."

She smiles, pushing herself up to kiss his cheek.

"I love you daddy."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Since canon Finchel are breaking my heart, have some AU fluff.**

* * *

They made a pact when Lily was still too young to do anything more than eat and poop and laugh, when the reality of having a child really dawned on them. Life as they knew it was over, because from the moment she existed, their lives have revolved around her. It kind of freaked them both out a little to be honest, the thought that their lives will no longer be their own. Ever.

And so that was when they made the pact.

Once Lily was old enough to talk and walk, Saturdays became Lily day. Or rather, mornings and afternoons were 'daddy time' and the rest of the day was 'mommy time', which really translates to Rachel and Finn's alone time.

He's glad they did it. Don't get him wrong, he loves his kid to death, and 'daddy time' is always awesome, but after every hectic week, he tends to look forward to his lazy Saturday evenings, mostly doing nothing, sometimes hanging out with the guys from work, and generally just chilling out. Besides, Rachel and Lily almost always come back with a baked good or other forms of awesomeness (Lily brought home a Build-a-Bear for him one time and made him promise to display it on his desk at work. So 'Beary' ("get it daddy?") the bear is his constant companion and the butt of many jokes among his dear students, but whatever. His kid made him that bear from scratch, right down to its wonky eyes).

But like he said, 'daddy time' is awesome. He wouldn't trade that for anything. Their kid is obsessive (he swears up and down that it comes from Rachel's genes), and so they tend to do the same thing for months at a time. Like up until Lily was maybe five, all they ever did was go to the playground every Saturday morning and then to the pool when it got too hot. There were maybe a few months when she was obsessed with feeding the ducks at the park, and like two whole months when she was six, when all she wanted to do was stay at home to 'watch the Saturday cartoons and make pancakes for mommy'. That had been awesome, until Rachel started getting mad at him for including 'sleeping in time' as quality time (Hey, he totally dragged his ass to Lily's room at seven to dump her blankets on the floor before curling up next to her and sleeping until nine every Saturday without fail. It counted).

Now Lily's eight. And she's been having a new obsession. Zoos. He's pretty sure it all started when she watched Madagascar at Tyler's safari themed birthday party. She could not stop talking about that movie for _weeks,_ and family movie night consisted of Madagascar one, two _and_ three until he was up in his eyeballs with cartoon animals to the point where he found himself walking around school, humming to the soundtrack. It was a few weekends after that when she made him promise to take her to the zoo. And when she found out that New York City has not only one, but _four_ of them, well they've been making their rounds pretty consistently for the past few months.

You'd think it'd be boring, going to the same place over and over and over. And over. But Lily makes it fun. For one thing, they don't always do the same thing every time. The first visits were always the worst because she would literally make the entire round over. But his kid is obsessive, like he said. She's conscientious, like Rachel, and she notes all of the things that peak her interests, and the times after that, all they do is come back to look at those specific things.

She's a mini Rachel. She googles her animal of the week, tries to find every little remotely interesting fact about them, and when Saturday rolls around, he almost always finds all 6'3 of him being dragged around by his tiny eight year old, straight towards the penn of choice. Finn's had his fair share of general knowledge on ducks and lions and monkeys flown right through his ears as he pretends to listen intently to every word his daughter says.

This week it's penguins. Lily wakes him up extra early, at _seven_ thirty, and they're extra quiet (because 'daddy time' includes daddy doing all the morning work, and that means breakfast too) as he gets her ready for the day. He takes a quick shower and makes scrambled eggs and bacon (and wheat rye toast for Rachel) while Lily dresses herself, and by the time he loads the food onto the plates, she's stepped out in her pink and white sweater and her hot pink leggings, her bright purple jumper hanging over her shoulder (Rachel tells him that they need to let her creativity flourish in the way she expresses herself, and he doesn't argue. Look at it this way. At least she'll be easy to find if she ever gets lost).

He smiles, placing her plate in front of her as she slips into her seat.

"Eat up Lilyput. You need all the energy you can get if we're going to see the penguins."

"I wanna see the emperor penguin," she tells him through a mouthful of eggs. "They're the biggest ones."

"They are?" he asks, grinning down at her. "How big? Bigger than me?"

"_No_ dad," she answers, rolling her eyes. "You're a giant. No one's bigger than you. Except Santa. And grandpa Hiram."

"Ah."

"But really, they're the biggest, and the smallest is the fairy penguin and they weigh like, two pounds. That's smaller than _me_-"

"Yeah, when you came out, you totally weighed more than that."

"And they can live in water _and_ on land, and that's _so_ cool."

"It's totally cool," he concedes with a chuckle. He listens to her chatter as she \ eats as fast as she can, reminding her to chew once in a while. Lily's tall enough to reach the sink now, so it's her job to clear the plates when she finishes, while he goes to his room and wakes Rachel up.

She's already awake by the time he steps in, smiling at him from the bed as he walks towards her, bending down to kiss her lightly.

"Good morning," she murmurs when he pulls back.

"Morning."

"Sounds like Lily's excited to see the penguins. "

"I'm pretty sure she's having the kid equivalent to a coronary right now," he jokes as she sits up and pulls against his hand for him to pull her up.

"You guys always have so much fun these days," she complains. "It makes me want to join you."

"What can I say Rach? I'm just the cooler parent." She rolls her eyes at his words, sticking out her tongue when he chuckles. He leans forward to kiss her again, but Lily's already hollering out for him in the hall.

"Go," Rachel tells him, playfully swatting his chest. "Your daughter is waiting for her cool parent."

He grins, stealing a kiss anyway before he leaves.

"Breakfast is on the table," he says over his shoulder and she laughs, running a hand through her dishevelled hair.

"I trained you well Mr Hudson."

"You won the lottery in the husband department _Mrs_ Hudson."

Lily fills him in on more penguin facts the whole walk over to the Central Park zoo. They're carnivores, they live mostly in water and there are 18 species of penguins all around the world. Or something. He just nods, Lily's hand firmly in his as they make their way, because he has mastered the art of tuning loud people out without being a douche (years with Rachel taught him that).

But when she finally gets to the aquarium, she gets real quiet. They get there early, because Lily likes to be as close to the animals as she can, and there are barely any people around, so he stands in silence next to her for close to ten minutes, holding her hand with one eye on her.

"Hey Lil," he says after a while. "Is that the emperor penguin?"

He's pointing out to a random direction (because really, how will he even know?), and Lily shakes her head.

"They're Gentoo," she informs him. "There aren't any emperor penguins here."

"Oh. Sorry kiddo. Maybe next time, huh?"

She shrugs, eyes still focused intently on the animals.

"Lilypad, are you okay?" he asks, worried. Lily turns to him, looking up with a smile as she nods.

"Yeah. I was just looking at them. See those two?"

"Yep," he nods, looking at a pair of penguins standing in front of one another.

"They're married."

"How do you know that?"

"'Cause they're lookin' at each other like that. That's how they tell each other they love each other, you know."

"Oh," he says. "Interesting."

"You know, penguins only get married once. And they have this special voice or somethin', so only their partners can tell it's them."

"So they're like tethered, huh?" he asks, squinting out towards the animals as he chuckles.

"What's that?"

He looks down to find Lily looking up at him, confused.

"Tethered?" he asks. She nods.

"Well um- it's kind of like when two things are connected to one another. You know, like- like mom's hair dryer is tethered to the electrical socket. It's two things that fit together like that. And people too. Like Cinderella and prince charming and- and"

"Like you and mom?"

He grins, ruffling her hair when she looks up at him expectantly.

"Yeah. Like your mom and I."

She looks up at him in scrutiny, seemingly mulling over something for the longest time before she nods and turns back towards the penguins. Lily takes his hand and inches closer towards him, and he pulls her to his side, squatting down to wrap one arm around her shoulders.

"I like it," she says quietly.

"That penguins are tethered?"

She nods her head before she leans it on his shoulder.

"Yeah. And you and mom too."

He smiles, turning to his right to kiss the top of her head.

"Me too Lil."


	6. Chapter 6

He knew something was up when Lily started spending inordinate amounts of time on math.

His girl is the smartest kid he knows, but that was the one subject she has _always_ hated, ever since she was old enough to learn that one plus one is two, and on most days, they had to practically force her to finish her homework. That was up until about a month ago, when she first came up to him to ask about fractions. He had been surprised to say the least (and secretly glad that the kid is still eight, and her math level is still up his alley), as he solved it for her while she listened intently to his explanation.

Somehow in the past thirty days, his daughter has decided that math is her favorite subject.

"I thought your favorite subject was English?" he asked, turning sideways to look at Lily, poring over her textbook. He was more than a little perplexed. Yeah, he's proud to say that unlike him when he was her age, Lily had taken after Rachel on the academics department. But still. His kid was so not the type that studies during car rides. Plus, she's eight. What do eight year olds really study, even? Lily sighed witheringly, as she was wont to do when she thinks that daddy's asking a stupid question.

"That was two _months_ ago dad," she told him. "Besides, everyone knows English. Math is cooler. It's exotic."

"Do you even know what that means?" he asked with a straight face. She refused to have a conversation with him after that.

Rachel rolled her eyes when he asked her about this and told him that he was being weird and paranoid.

"Little kids have many interests when they're still young," she told him, pulling him away from Lily's A+ math quiz tacked on the fridge to give him a kiss.

"But-"

"Finn, Lily is out with Kurt right now, and this is the first Saturday in a month that we're both free. Do you really want to spend this beautiful day talking about our daughter's newfound interest in mathematics, or do you want to spend it doing things we can't do when she's around?"

The woman had a point.

He let it drop, and decided to just embrace Lily's new love. Hey, maybe they'll find out that his daughter is an actual math genius or something. That would be kind of cool. He was just glad third grade math doesn't involve weird shit like, calculus or whatever.

So he's standing at the edge of Lily's classroom, and it's Parent-Teacher day and while Rachel's standing next to him talking to Lily's math teacher, Mr. Bellamy, Lily's on his other side, staring up at the man with what are unmistakably stars in her eyes.

Oh yeah, Lily had an interest alright. He doesn't think maths has anything to do with it though. He frowns when his daughter nods her head enthusiastically at every word this Bellamy dude is saying. What is up with this guy anyway? Isn't he a little too young to be teaching maths to eight year olds? He looks like he's barely out of high school.

"Lily is actually my best student." He looks up to find her teacher smiling at both him and Rachel, and he reciprocates with a wry smile of his own.

"I'm sure she is," he says dryly. Mr. Bellamy turns at that moment when another set of parents call out to him, and Lily runs off to find Tyler. So Finn turns to shoot his wife a knowing look, surprised to find Rachel still looking at the teacher's back.

"Got a crush on the math teacher Rach?" he whispers, nudging her shoulder. She turns to him with a smile.

"He really is a very handsome man, isn't he?" she muses. He rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, well, if you think math is 'exotic', like Lily then yeah, sure," he mutters.

"Mr. Hudson," she says in mock surprise. "Are you jealous?"

"Of the math guy? _Seriously_?"

"_Awww_ Finn," Rachel says, amused at the frown on his face. She takes his hand, giggling when he glares at her. "You _are_ jealous. Baby, you know there's only one teacher for me."

"It's not you I'm worried about," he mumbles darkly, eyeing his eight year old, currently ignoring every word her best friend is saying as her eyes stray towards her math teacher.

"Lily has her first crush," Rachel says, grinning at their daughter. "It's cute."

"She's _eight_, Rachel."

"So?"

"So, when _I_ was eight, girls were just boys with cooties, and adults were _old_."

"Oh Finn, I should hope our daughter takes after me in the maturity department. I fell in love with Tony when I was six years old Finn. Girls just mature faster than boys do."

"Tony is a fictional character Rach."

"I think you're just jealous," she says, ignoring his retort.

"Of _Mr. Bellamy_?"

"No, of the fact that you're not the only man in her life anymore. She's staring to notice that more of them exist. You know, one day she's going to realize that some of them are even cooler than _you_."

"Shut up Rachel."

Rachel just laughs at him as she takes his hand and pulls him towards the middle of the room to find Lily's English teacher. He likes Mrs Goldman. She's sweet and old and female.

He _really_ doesn't like that Lily's old enough to have crushes now though. She's _eight_. Isn't he supposed to have at _least_ a few more years of her to himself before he has to start worrying about these things?

(When Lily comes home two weeks later, and announces that she's back to hating maths again and English is her favorite, Rachel rolls her eyes at the grin on his face.)


End file.
